Are the times changing for conservatives?

Many conservative writers become so emotionally traumatized when presented with the growing evidence that liberalism’s grasp on America’s youth is shrinking, they revert to denial and name calling. An especially virulent out-break of this malady over-whelmed Selwyn Duke upon reading my September 4th article, ‘The Millennial Generation Is Abandoning Liberalism’. Since Mr. Duke published his manifesto, “It’s the Liberalism, Stupid”, he regularly trumpets as settled science to conservatives his theory that “there has been a consistent, but accelerating, degeneration ever since” the founding fathers established the Republic. But when a conservative rejects two hundred years of American Exceptionalism, he accepts confinement in liberalism intellectual house of straw. While Selwyn Duke tells conservatives to denounce the rising independence of Millennials as “our latest movement toward idiocracy”; I celebrate Millennials’ move to the middle as a remarkably positive shift toward political sanity.

On September 4th, the United States Senate was expected to quickly approve President Obama’s request to use military force in Syria. According to the 2011 Congressional Research Service publication “Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, Historical Background and Legal Implications,” Congress granted all 11 Presidential requests for a declaration of war and all 11 Presidential requests for authorization to use of military force. But despite capturing 61% of the votes of Millennials in the last election, only 12% of Millennials supported President Obama’s request to use force in Syria. Facing overwhelming opposition from the key demographic that delivered his election victory, Obama became the first President in the history of the nation to be forced to withdraw a Congressional request to use force.

The Obama Administration assumed going into the October 1st government shutdown, a large number of the 72 million Millennials could be mobilized through social media to surround the Capitol and clog Congressional phone lines in defense of Obamacare. But this turned into a very difficult sell after a National Center for Public Policy Research study revealed that single, childless Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 could save at least $500 by opting out of Obamacare and paying the $95 individual mandate penalty. According to the FreedomWorks, a website followed by 6 million Millennials: “It’s a social injustice to draft young, healthy Americans into a coercive program where they are expected to pay more money to get less coverage, all in the name of subsidizing people older and richer than they are. If Obamacare is so effective, why does it have to be mandatory? After more than a week of the shutdown, the only mobilized groups coming out in size are the Tea Parties who oppose Obamacare.

Mr. Duke does acknowledge “Millennials may have soured on Obama somewhat, but this reflects cynicism more than conservatism.” Given that cynicism is the belief individuals are motivated by self-interest, the Founding Fathers were all for that. The Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Prior to the American Revolution, individuals had no rights as the collectivist subjects of the king.

Selwyn Duke blames Millennials’ cynical attitudes on the “feckless, morally-confused adults in their homes, schools, government, houses of worship and elsewhere” that have let them down. The Founders’ generation had much in common with today’s Millennials, since the majority were similar in age; Marquis de Lafayette and James Monroe were 18, Gilbert Stuart and Aaron Burr were 20, Alexander Hamilton was 21, Betsy Ross was 24 and James Madison was 25. Undoubtedly, the London newspapers of 1776 used similar epithets to describe moral depravity of the parents, teachers and ministers that failed to prevent the Founders from rebelling against their Sovereign King.

Five years before declaring their independence, the Founders were predominantly the aristocratic progeny of staunch supporters of King George III. They were expected to obediently fly the Union Jack and optimistically look forward to lives as Englishmen. But endless wars, deficit spending and new taxes drove the Founders to cynically reject the venality and vested interests of the British Colonial Office. It has been five years of endless wars, deficit spending and new taxes that are driving Millennials to cynically reject the venality and vested interests of American liberalism. Bob Dylan heralded the rising political importance of baby boomers when he sang: “Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen, and keep your eyes wide the chance won’t come again.” The boomers soured on liberalism after experiencing Jimmy Carter and for the next three decades they voted as Reagan conservatives. Millennials are souring on liberalism after experiencing Barack Obama. Conservative writers should open their eyes to this wonderful opportunity, “For the times they are a-changin’”.

3 thoughts on “Are the times changing for conservatives?”

In 2012 53,952,240 votes were cast for Democratic candidates, while Republican candidates received 53,402,643 for the House of Representatives. In simple terms, when you get past the Presidential vote, more Americans voted for Democrats in the House of Reps than for Republicans. Only massive gerrymandering in a handful of GOP controlled States left the House in GOP hands.

Your claim that the country is leaning right is wishful thinking at it’s best. Millenials want work, for the last five+ uears the GOP has voted to LIMIT a woman’s access to control her body as a private affair between her and her doctor more times than they have voted for jobs. In fact, if you ignore the BS that voting to lower taxes is a vote for jobs (if it was the Reagan and Cheney-Bush years would have been wonderful for jobs, and it wasn’t) the sad facts are that there have been NO jobs bills voted on in the House since the GOP took over the House.NOT ONE.

Millenials are NOT stupid. They are the people that realize that after the 2008 fiasco Cheney-Bush rewarded the people that did it with TARP (tax bailouts to the banks, bankers, traders and people that crashed the economy). They were the people that started the 99% and OWS. They see a Congress that represents the interests of the 1%, and ignores th 99%.

Millenials have had it with BOTH parties. That they are feeling disinchanted with the Democrats makes sense. There are maybe five Senators that are Progressive and maybe 15 members of the House. Yet Millenials as a group are progressive (no mater what the Koch funded Freedomworks claims to the contrary). They want jobs. They want an end to corporatism. They want opportunity. They want the end of corporate welfare, and for the most part care more about people and fairness than they care about the Gordon Gecko of greed.

Millenials are not going to support people that push “hate the others” because the “others” are their gay friends, the “others” are the latino kid that they sat next to in class for 13 years who can’t go to college because no mater how hard he worked and all the A’s he got, he was brought here by parents that came to this country illegally. They want everyone to have a voice, and don’t think that the best way to do that is to purge the voter rolls and make it harder for people to vote.

Sorry, Chriss, but the facts just don’t bear out that the Millenials are the new rise of the GOP. The GOP is the old white men’s party. It’s a party that is dying out. The GOP forced the country to the right over years, so now the center is leaning far to the right. Like any pendulum, it swings. The Millenials are part of the swing back to the left. From legalizing gay marriage to legalizing pot, they are leaning Progressive. They believe in personal responsibility, but also have some of the highest level of volunteerism in decades and tend to believe that helping others is also helping yourself.

This weekend I had a chance to talk to 18-22 year olds (my daughter is in from ASU) and as a group I can’t say that there isn’t a great deal there to make me smile as a Progressive. They are not buying what the GOP is selling. That doesn’t mean that they are buying the crap from the Democrats either. They want something very different, and as they start to go to the polls they will push back. The only thing that will be able to stop them is the SCOTUS making it easier for corporations to buy elections.

I agree. If anything they are leaning Libertarian. Obama has lost much support due to the wars, including the failed drug war, and the NSA scandal. But the GOP can’t stop hating on women and minorities except for Asians, particularly Koreans.

Democrats received more votes, but it’s not due entirely to Republican gerry mandering. The VRA plays a big role as well. Democratic-voting racial minorities are packed into minority-majority districts, and once the state has such a district, it must keep it.

That being said, I think you’re spot on about Millennial disillusionment. As a Millennial, I can tell you from personal experience that my generation is fed up with the whole system. My liberal friends and my conservative friends tend not to identify with a political party. We are a populist generation. I don’t think Millennials are swinging to the left or right. We’re swinging to a different direction- socially libertarian, cosmopolitan, populist, and fiscally conservative (that is conservative as in “spend less,” not conservative as in “deregulate”).

So based on the issue you choose, America is becoming different things. Looking at social issues? More liberal. Looking at spending issues? More conservative.

Our generation refuses to acknowledge the traditional party lines as the only options. Expect the party lines to adapt in response (as they do with every new generation).